


Bad Dreams, Warm Cocoa

by Miran4242



Series: Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Bad Dreams, College AU, F/F, Fluff, Swan Queen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-11 22:16:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19935382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miran4242/pseuds/Miran4242
Summary: Emma wakes up to the sounds of moaning.She opens her eyes to complete darkness. The bright red letters coming from her alarm clock tell her that it’s only 2:30 in the morning. She can hear the moaning coming thorough the wall and she can feel her face turning red as she realizes that it is coming from her roommate’s room.Prompt: Roomate has a nightmare and doesn’t want to sit alone at night





	Bad Dreams, Warm Cocoa

Emma wakes up to the sounds of moaning.

She opens her eyes to complete darkness. The bright red letters coming from her alarm clock tell her that it’s only 2:30 in the morning. She can hear the moaning coming thorough the wall and she can feel her face turning red as she realizes that it is coming from her roommate’s room.

“Sheesh Regina, get a boyfriend.” She mutters, pulling her pillow over her head and preparing to go back to sleep. But no matter how she tried, she couldn’t block the sound of her roommate out. With a frustrated huff she got up. Her feet touched the cold hardwood floor and she shivered angrily. She had work tomorrow and she really didn’t need to be kept up by her roommates solo play. She threw open the door to her room walked down the hall, ready to give Regina a piece of her mind. But she stopped just as her fist was inches from the door.

Emma realized that the noises coming from behind the door didn’t sound like noises of pleasure.

They sounded like noises of pain.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no” Regina’s moans formed words. The desperation in her voice was apparent even from the hallway where Emma stood. She must be having a nightmare. Thought Emma. She was unsure what to do, her sleepy anger now dissipated into uncertainty. Her and Regina weren’t close, she barely knew anything about her. Just that she’d had enough money to pay the rent and cleaned up after herself. It would be best if she left her to her alone, let her deal with it her own dreams.

Just then the volume of Regina’s cry’s became louder. At the sound of a sob Emma acted almost without thinking. She pushed open the door quietly, slipping into the darkened room. Regina’s desk was near the window, where moonlight was streaking across the floor boards and the large bed. The brown haired woman usually seemed so composed and intimidating, but seeing her curled up, sobbing in her sleep, Regina looked surprisingly small.

“Regina.” Emma whispered, slipping over to the side of her bed. “Regina?”

Regina gasped, eyes opening wildly, chest heaving with a half formed sob as she sat bolt upright. “Wha-?” She looked around, disoriented. Her eyes were full of a fear that made Emma want to punch whatever had made her feel that way. It was a kind fight or flight fear that Emma recognized because she was all too familiar with it herself. It was the fear you got when someone had a broom held up to hit you with and you could either run under the stairs or pull up your fists and start swinging.

“Regina?” Emma reached out to touch her roommate, pull her physically out of whatever dark place her mind was, but the brown haired woman flinched away from her fingers. The blonde pulled her hand back. “Are you ok? You were…you were moaning and talking in your sleep. I thought maybe you were having a nightmare.”

Regina took a deep shuddering breath. “ I was.” She said simply, her knees curling up to her chest. She wiped tears from her face, not looking at Emma.

Emma stood there awkwardly for a moment. The silence stretching between them for a few moments. “ Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.”

The silence stretched on.

“Ok, I’m just going to go them.” The blonde moved toward the door. She made it about halfway there before a voice sounded from behind her.

“Emma…Please…will you stay?”

She turned around, thinking about it for a second. She had work tomorrow, that was true. But it seemed like Regina needed her more than the station did.

“Yeah, ok.”

Regina moved farther to one side of the bed and Emma slipped beside her. She crossed her legs, leaning back against the headboard. She was close enough to feel the warmth from her roommates skin, but not so close that they were actually touching.

“Hey, this is probably the closest we’ve been since you moved in.” Emma said attempting to distract her.

Regina gave a small smile through her tears. “That should probably change.”

“Are you saying you want to get closer?” Emma quirked an eyebrow and scooted a little closer.

That earned a laugh. “I’m saying we should probably know more about each other if we’re going to be living together. I don’t even know where you work.”

“Well that’s an easy one. I work at the police station.”

“You’re a cop?”

“Hardly,” Emma chuckled. “ I’m just a paid intern to the sheriff. But I do want to be a cop one day.”

“Sheirff Swan,” Mused the other woman. “Has a pleasant ring to it.”

The blonde smiled “ Thanks. What about you? What do you do?”

“I’m in law school, trying to get my degree.”

“Nice,” Emma was impressed. That explained the long hours Regina spent in her room. Probably studying. It also explained the ridiculous amount of books she kept in the living room. “Have you always wanted to be a lawyer?”

Regina looked down, the light that glimmered briefly in her eyes gone. “I never wanted to be a lawyer.”

Emma wanted to ask her why she was in law school then, but she didn’t want to pry. Her goal was to cheer up Regina, not to remind her of her sadness. There was more silence between them, Regina staring out the window at the moonlight night, Emma glancing at Regina, wondering what she could say to comfort her. She had never had anyone to comfort her after nightmares, the closest was a foster parent warning her to shut up and go to sleep or else, so she felt sort of lost. Then, she got an idea.

“Do you want some hot chocolate?”

‘It’s 2 in the morning.”

“The perfect time if you ask me.” Emma slid out of the bed, thankful for something she could do. She was unsure how to navigate the emotions of her roommate, but hot beverages she could manage. She imagined that this was something a friend or parent would do after bad dreams. At least that what happened on TV. As if instinctually, she held out a hand to Regina, who looked at it warily before taking it. Silently, Emma led her through the darkened hallway and into the kitchen, where the clock above the stove gave an greenish glow to the room. Regina leaned against the counter as Emma began to shuffle around, opening the refrigerator for milk and the cupboards for the hot chocolate mix.

“Aren’t you going to turn on a light?” Regina asked.

“Please,” Emma scoffed. “I could make hot chocolate with my eyes closed.”

As soon as both mugs were filled to the brim with warm milk and chocolate powder, Emma grabbed the final ingredient, cinnamon, which she applied liberally to both of their drinks.

Regina made a face, but decided not to argue, instead taking a delicate sip from her cup.

“Not bad.” She ruled, smiling.

Emma decided she liked that smile.

They walked back to Regina’s room, settling on the bed. This time, Emma was close enough that her knee was brushing Regina’s thigh. If the brunette noticed she didn’t let on, but Emma was uncomfortably aware where their skin touched. Sheesh Emma, she thought to herself get a boyfriend.

They sat together once more in silence, but this time it was a simple comfortable silence, the kind that didn’t need to be broken by talking. Just the sounds of gentle sips from warm mugs and the noises from the city outside.

Regina finished her mug and laid back on the bed, looking as though she was going to go to sleep. Emma wondered if this was a sign that she should go. The thought of it almost made her sad. Why? You don’t even know this girl. She made a move as if to leave the bed but Regina’s hand reached out to rest and her thigh, stopping her.

“Tell me a story.” She said. And it didn’t sound to Emma like a childish request. It sounded like the request of a woman who needed to hear something good. A woman who hadn’t heard anything like that in a long while. It was the sound of someone who needed something to help chase the monsters away. So Emma obliged.

“Once upon a time,” She began. Emma told Regina a story of knights and princesses, of true love and true loss, of good triumphing over evil. She told a story of happy endings and happily ever afters. A fairytale. By the time she was done, Regina was asleep.

Emma looked over at the brown haired woman as she slept, searching her face for any sign of bad dreams. Regina’s hand still rested on her thigh, and she didn’t want to move for fear of waking her and disturbing a sleep that was so hard won. She shifted, managing to maneuver her way to a horizontal position, her head on one of Regina’s surprisingly soft pillows, facing away from her. Instead of waking up, her roommate simply shifted curling against Emma’s back. Emma froze, at this sudden closeness, finding herself closer to her roommate than she’d ever really considered being.

Be honest Emma, you’ve considered it. Regina was beautiful, that was definitely true, and mysteriously so strong and yet so seemingly fragile tonight. But she barely knew her and here she was cuddled, (albeit accidently) next to her in bed. It was an interesting predicament, and as Emma drifted off to sleep she made a resolution to herself.

It was definitely time to get to know Regina better


End file.
